My Sega Genesis Memories

Here's more classic favorites of mine from the 16-bit era!

Continuing with my VG countdown articles, this one focuses again on the 16-bit era, but this time, it's on the Sega Genesis. Like my Super NES article, I can only remember a few games that I had a lot of fun with on this system, but there are more memorable games on the Sega Genesis to me than the Super Nintendo, so for this one, I'm going to list 15.

#15 - Kid Chameleon

What a jam-packed game! Hundreds of levels, tons of teleporters, lots of weird monsters to fight, and best of all, getting to transform into all these different heroes with lots of cool moves. The only con is that some of the guys you changed into didn't go up hills. The game may be hard as hell, but the fun factor of the game really lives up to being one of the best on the Sega Genesis.

#14 - The Lion King*

A lot of movie-based games tend to fail, but this one doesn't so much. The game has good graphics, great sound, and compared to most movie-based games, this one is God! This 2D platformer follows the movie very well with music taken from the movie's soundtrack and even direct dialogue from the movie! Regardless of how difficult it may be, it's still pretty fun. "The Lion King" is definately one of the best movie-based games I've ever played.

#13 - Cool Spot*

This former mascot of 7-Up got three of his own video games, each on an entirely different system. Though, I gotta say, of all those games, the one on the Sega Genesis was the best. How cool would it be to be a little red dot with sunglasses, going around trying to save your friends while shooting 7-Up out of your glove at crabs, worms, bees, mice, spiders, toys, and all this other weird stuff, while at the same time listening to some cool jazz music? What a fun little game. Virgin should definately start making games again.

#12 - Aero the Acrobat*

An evil scientist is trying to take over the world, and it's your job as this circus bat to stop him...but first you have to kill off all the other acts of the circus. There's only room for one acrobat in this circus, and that's Aero! This is a game you'll spend hours upon hours playing because there are so many levels, and with no way to save your progress and having them send you back to Act 1 of the world you were on after getting a game over, it just adds on.

#11 - Earthworm Jim*

If you thought a worm in a supersuit was weird enough, you haven't seen the half of Earthworm Jim! 200% of the stuff in this game is weird! Wether it be the characters or the stuff you do, Earthworm Jim is nothing but a mess of a cartoon, but still an overall cool game.

#10 - Sonic the Hedgehog

Ever since this game's release, it came with every Sega Genesis sold making it worthy of being in the Top 10! How can you talk about Sega and not mention Sonic the Hedgehog? This is the game that started it all for the blue speedy hedgehog, and it's still undeniably one of the best with it's sweet moves, colorful graphics and one of the best video game soundtracks ever!

#9 - Vectorman

I consider Vectorman to be one of the video game titles that fell off too soon. This game came out in the mid-90's and was going to be a new franchise for the Sega Genesis, but thanks to systems like the Playstation, we only managed to get 2 games out of this guy (maybe he had more, but at least I've never heard of any others). Like most games on the Genesis, while this game can be challenging, it's the amount of fun you have that matters.

#8 - Earthworm Jim 2*

The much-anticipated sequel to "Earthworm Jim" took everything we loved about the first game and made it even better! This time, it's loaded with more comic relief and a lot of cool mini games like a Simon game, a hammer game, a bouncing puppies game, and even a trivia game that'll make you laugh falling out of your seat! The only flaw of this game are the few levels that are long, boring and repetitive, but the many new guns that Jim has make up for most of that.

#7 - Road Rash

What can be better than a racing game? A racing game that's more realistic. While most racing games are about making laps while driving go-karts, "Road Rash" was all about riding a motorcycle and racing 15 other bikers to the finish. What's even cooler is that you got to change the name of your biker to whatever you wanted! So put some pedal to the metal on this game, and watch out for cars...and make sure to avoid those cops too.

#6 - Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure

Out of all the Tiny Toon Adventures games I've played, this has always been one of my favorites. Buster Bunny goes on a treasure hunt while at the same time rescue all his friends from Dr. Splicer. Those helpers you have in the game are also pretty cool. The only real problem with the game is that there are some things about it that rip off "Sonic the Hedgehog" (kinda like how TTA on Nintendo ripped off "Mario 3"). If you love the Tiny Toons, then I suggest giving this game a try.

#5 - Quack Shot

One of the first games I ever played on the Sega Genesis, and even the most obscure games can result to greatness. Donald Duck traveling around the world for a secret treasure while attacking bad guys with plungers. Now, in real life, no one would be able to do all that in one day. Regardless of how corny it may be, the game is still well-planned-out how it requires going back and forth to the different areas of the game. Just a forewarning, remember that eating 5 red hot chili peppers will make you go insane!

#4 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2

How often do you see sequels better than the originals? Well, today, it's pretty common, but back in the 90's, it was still pretty common in the gaming world. What made "Sonic 2" better than the original were the lots of new zones, the introduction of Tails, the spin-dash attack, the 2-player mode, and the 3D half pipes! What a game! This is one of those games you'll want to play over and over again!

#3 - World of Illusion

If putting Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck together in a 2-player platformer isn't cool enough, then how about giving them some magical powers? I never thought I'd see the day when Donald would perfect magic until I saw this game. Although the game is short, it's still very memorable, and it's fun enough to play with a friend. I do find it a bit annoying that the game doesn't progress unless both of you are on the screen at the same time. Oh well, at least there are still some references from classic Disney movies that you'll find enjoyable.

#2 - Rocket Knight Adventures

Yet another title that fell off. What happens when you take a bunch of forest animals and put them into a medieval setting with a Star Wars theme mixed in? You get this awesome game. What other game do you get to play as a possum who wears a vicious jet pack and kicks some ass by killing his enemies with the sound wave of his sword? I think it's about time Sparkster made a jump into the new age of gaming.

#1 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

As I've said before, "Sonic 3" is the most interesting game of the Sonic trilogy, but the only way to make it at least 10 times better is by locking it on to "Sonic & Knuckles"! Giving you new levels to play, more areas to explore, more objectives to complete, and the addition of having Knuckles as a playable character, this is the game that blows all the other Sonic games away (maybe not quite "Sonic CD")! With all that said and done, "Sonic 3 & Knuckles", to this day, is my #1 most cherrished game on the Sega Genesis.

* = This game was also on the Super NES, but I liked the Sega version better.

Yeah, I admit, there are probably a lot of other classics on the Genesis that I forgot about. I know "Altered Best" and "Ristar" would fall under my list of honorable mentions, but I have a hard time remembering games from this system (I have seen some pretty bad ones, believe me). Well, that concludes my Sega Genesis list. Maybe I'll do one for the Nintendo 64, but probably not for a while. Thank you and have a good night.

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I think, TTA was better, than a Sonic. No... I mean, the things they ripped off the Sonic were really good. I like Sonic too, but it's too fast. Playing TTA, you should think more than while playing Sonic games.
That's the best game on Genesis for me, maybe the best 16bit game. I still like to play it on my Megadrive.

I completely sympathize with you, Knites. It's weird looking back at some of the games we spent hours, if not days, playing. Think about it. Dr. Mario? How simple a game was that? I must've played that late into the night for a least a week straight. Either that or Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball (600 club!).
But it's the small, downright puny games that surprise me (especially the commercial ones like Cool Spot). Remember the Dominoes mascot? He had his own game too! Did I play it? ....yes.

Yes. Sega Genesis. I love this system. My brothers and sister and I got a Sega Genesis as a gift from our grandparents, it came with Sonic 2.. what a great game. You name so many great games in this article... Vectorman, Roadrash, Earthworm Jim...All great games from my childhood. Great article.

I put alot of hours into Cool Spot. I forget how I got the game. I think I picked it up at a garage sale or something. It was fun and strangely addictive in spite of the fact it was a commercial on a cartridge.

Yes, you have knocked people for writing countdown/list articles. Especially on subjects as tired as "My Favorite Games for the (fill in console name here)" or anything about Nickelodeon's past.

However, people keep writing them because they're enjoyed by lots of the people who visit this website. Everyone likes list articles, whether or not they're easy to write or if they've been done before.

Keep in mind that I like your articles and style, but the second sentence in that last post doesn't completely make sense, coming from someone who rates articles thumbs down for small mechanics mistakes.

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

Actually, what I meant to say was that DL's attitude is rather hypocritical when it comes to list articles. List articles are what I tend to write and I see a lot of others on here. I like list articles because everybody's tastes are different and these articles show how different those tastes can be.

What I myself can't take anymore is DL's attitude towards list articles. Either everyone can write them or no one can write them. I'm okay with list articles...I'm not okay with DL's indecision on them (bashing others for writing list articles while writing them himself).

Oh man, while Lion King was indeed fun and had better than average graphics for 16-bit, it was also one of the hardest games I've ever played. It literally took me over a month just to get past the first part of level 2, jumping across the damn giraffe heads, and while I finally started getting past the entire level, there was so many other massively difficult challenges in most of the subsequent levels. My sister was actually much better at the game than me oddly enough. Good game but I enjoyed the first 3 Sonic sequels better.

"Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing."

Quoted for truth from punky796.

While this is a well-written article, when I saw the word "list", I was like "Wait a minute, it's okay for you but not for the rest of us?". It is a tad hypocritical, you must admit.

Wow, I haven't played some of these games for quite awhile. For the most part, games nowadays just don't seem to be as colorful as the 16-bit systems...sweet list and good article, but...

Why, oh, WHY do you keep writing the same kind of articles that you knock others for writing? Some of us can't take it anymore. This is an awesome article, but it's not exempted from the type that you seem to be so tired of seeing.

But yeah, when you create your Nintendo 64 one (which I'm guessing Super Mario 64 or Zelda: OoT will be #1), make sure you call it "My Nintendo 64 Countdown", cuz like with your SNES one... I see no mention of your "memories" with the games, just brief synopsis of the game, rinse, repeat.

By the way... I see a severe lack of variety on your list. Road Rash was the only one that stood out of Platform Nation... are you telling me you've never played anything like Shining in the Darkness, Phantasy Stars II-IV, Shining Force 1 and 2, The Faery Tale Adventure, LandStalker, Crusader of Centy, Beyond Oasis, etc. etc., when you were a little dalmation pup? You poor person. =(